Republican lawmakers and voting rights advocates on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in ongoing disputes over mail-in ballots pertaining to a Mississippi law, seeking an order that would prohibit states from counting ballots they consider legally cast but improperly filed under state election laws.
In a petition filed with the high court, the group urged justices to block several states from tallying ballots that were submitted outside deadlines or without meeting procedural requirements, arguing that the practice undermines election integrity and violates constitutional principles, Democracy Docket reported.
“Most Americans remember a time when results came quickly after election day,” the committee wrote. “Each election cycle dims that memory as States experiment with novel ballot-handling rules. One of those experiments is the prolonged receipt of mail ballots — three, five, fourteen, or even more days after election day.”
The RNC noted further in its filing that allowing ballots received after election day to be counted invites widespread fraud.
“These post-election receipt deadlines invite ‘the chaos and suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the results of an election,’” the RNC wrote. “It’s hard to blame Americans for those suspicions when some States produce quick results, while others take days to even know how many ballots need to be counted. When news anchors remind voters, ‘It’s not over yet,’ they’re right under any ordinary understanding. As long as ballots are still coming in, the election isn’t over.”
The move comes amid a series of legal battles over mail-in voting rules that intensified during and after the 2020 and 2024 election cycles, with differing state standards prompting partisan disputes and court challenges in multiple jurisdictions.
Supporters of the petition contend that uniform standards are necessary to ensure fair and consistent treatment of ballots nationwide and to maintain public confidence in the electoral process. They argue that state courts and election officials have, in some cases, expanded ballot acceptance rules beyond what legislatures enacted.
Opponents of the request, including civil rights organizations and voting rights advocates, counter that strict limitations could disenfranchise voters and that state governments should retain authority over the administration of their own elections.
The Supreme Court has not yet indicated whether it will take up the case or set a schedule for review. Lower courts have issued conflicting rulings in related cases, and legal observers say the justices could weigh in before key primaries and elections later this year.
The petition underscores broader national debate over the balance between voting access and election rules, and it arrives as lawmakers and advocacy groups continue to press for legislative and judicial action on election administration.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) recently addressed the 2020 election, when several blue states dramatically expanded mail-in voting due to the COVID pandemic, in most cases in violation of state laws and the Constitution.
“We had three House Republican candidates who were ahead on election day in the last election cycle, and every time a new tranche of ballots came in, they just magically whittled away until their leads were lost, and no series of ballots that were counted after election day were our candidates ahead on any of those counts,” Johnson told reporters. “It just looks on its face to be fraudulent.”
In its brief, the RNC also argued that the Constitution establishes and election ‘day’ when all ballots are cast and counted.
“The election-day statutes govern when States must close the ballot box, not when voters must make their selection,” the brief states. “That’s why contemporary dictionaries define ‘election’ as a public process facilitated by the State, and it’s why the statutes regulate States, not voters.”